The Comstock Lode, one of the greatest silver strikes in history, was discovered in Nevada in the late 1850s. The strike put downward pressure on silver prices worldwide. In 1878 Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act which required the Treasury Department to purchase large amounts of silver, and to strike it as coins. For reasons of economy, the Treasury chose to strike the silver as dollars.

When the dollar was minted in 1878, it was the first dollar issued for American commercial use since the last Seated Liberty Dollar of 1873. The Trade Dollar was minted during this time period but was intended to be used for trade in the Orient. The dollar was continuously minted until 1904 when the supply of dollars in circulation was high and there was an absence of silver bullion. Then in 1918, the Pittman Act called for over 270 million coins to be melted for silver content. In 1921, the coinage of the Morgan Dollar resumed for that year and was replaced by the Peace Dollar commemorative that would become standard issue. Since 1921, many Morgan Dollars have been melted. Melting has mostly occurred when silver prices escalated because these dollars yield silver bullion

The 1923 Peace Dollar is the second most common date of this coin, It contains 0.7734 troy ounces (about 25 gm) of silver

WHY DO 1923 SILVER DOLLARS SAY TRVST INSTEAD OF TRUST?

This question comes up frequently. If you think about it for a few moments, how likely would it be for the Mint to make the same "mistake" on hundreds of millions of coins struck over a 14-year period without fixing it? The explanation is that it's NOT an error, just artistic license!

In the 1920s it was a common affectation for artists to use the Latin alphabet for items that were designed in the Classical style. Latin doesn't have the letter U; V was both a vowel and consonant like the letter Y in English can be either. You had to decipher from the context. If you saw the letter V in a place where a vowel was needed you automatically replaced it with a U sound when speaking or reading.

Both dollars and quarters from that era used the Latin spelling so they both read TRVST. The same usage is also found on many buildings, medals, and paintings from that time.

$100.00 USD

Audit Information

The Coin Sheriff program allows our members to request an audit on any auction, which is completed by an independent Numismatic Specialist who assesses the accuracy of the item description and pictures.